


Chat Loaf

by sagansjagger



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Acts Like a Cat, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Identity Reveal, Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Baking, Bread, Cat tendencies, Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Identity Reveal, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Sloppy Makeouts, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:09:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25987975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagansjagger/pseuds/sagansjagger
Summary: As Adrien spends more time transformed, he has been acting... odd lately.More and more like a feline, in fact.During a steamy makeout session with his girlfriend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, those cat tendencies assert themselves in a most peculiar way...COMPLETE.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 81
Kudos: 382





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Missnoodles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missnoodles/gifts).



Marinette gasped into Adrien’s mouth, delirious from the delicious pressure of his hips pressing her into her bed. He parted her legs with his knee, bearing down on her lips with his own and pinning her hands above her head. Marinette was completely at his mercy, and oh, how she loved that once in a while.

Their kisses were usually soft, gentle, exploratory--but not this time. They were both feverish for each other, moaning loudly against one another’s mouths. Marinette breathed in Adrien’s breath, which tasted like warm spices and sugar from the cinnamon rolls her parents had fed them not fifteen minutes prior. 

Adrien had given her a look over his roll that had made her mouth water. They didn’t speak a word to each other, but they both knew what they wanted. She couldn’t wait to drag him into her bedroom and have her way with him.

Not all the way, as they were still sixteen and seventeen and neither were ready to take their relationship to the next level. But makeouts were fair game, and Marinette was glad of that.

Having Adrien as a boyfriend was so much _fun_. He was easy to please and fixated on her own pleasure, so they were good together. 

She was just thinking about how good when he dragged his nails down her neck and ribs, ending up squeezing her hips, and practically obliterated her ability to think at all. As he’d let go of her wrists, she laced her fingers around the back of his neck and tugged him even closer. 

Marinette pinned his tongue to his palate, licked his teeth, and bit his bottom lip. Adrien groaned against her, and she found herself wondering if Chat would ever groan like that for Ladybug.

She only felt a little guilty dating Adrien when she still held Chat’s heart.

But she was not thinking about that. No, she was going to enjoy this moment, taking as much as Adrien would willingly give. She slowed down the pace, circling his tongue with hers, and he followed her lead. 

Adrien moved slowly, breaking from her lips to gently kiss the corner of her mouth. Marinette had no idea what he was going to do next, which thrilled her. He pressed soft kisses to both cheeks and then both temples. Then he made his way to her jawline, kissing all the way down her face, and nibbled on her neck. Panting heavily, Marinette looped her foot around his calf and pushed her hips into his.

Adrien sucked on her neck and drew back to blow on the wet area. Marinette shivered. She ran her fingers down through his hair along the scalp from front to back, all the way down to his neck. 

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured against her skin. Marinette squeaked, her cheeks growing even hotter. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you all day.”

“Me, too,” she mumbled, and then backtracked. “I mean, kiss you all day I’ve wanted.” Her eyes shot open. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day!”

 _What?_ Marinette thought, as Adrien pulled back and chuckled. She hadn’t mixed up her words since she’d confessed her love for him. After confessing, her anxiety completely dissipated, and she was able to go for what she wanted with no problem at all. 

But apparently being the sole object of his attention was too much for her pubescent brain. 

Adrien booped her nose. “You’re cute.”

“ _You’re_ cute!”

Adrien laughed again. “It’s not a competition, Marinette.”

Marinette pouted a little. _I knew that._

Adrien peered down at her, his pupils dilated and his lips kiss swollen. He sat up in the bed, straddling her hips and staring down at her, his hands at his sides. _Eep!_ she thought, feeling unreasonably warm. _He’s so hot._

Then he did something odd.

Staring down at her with hooded eyes, he gently pressed his fists into her belly and released them one at a time. A rumble emitted from his chest.

It was almost as if he were… kneading her. And purring?

“W-What?” Marinette said, her eyes widening. “What on earth are you doing?”

Adrien looked stymied for a moment, but then continued kneading her. “I… don’t know. But it feels good, right?”

“No?” Marinette said, furrowing her brow at him. “Does… Does it feel good to you?”

“Sort of,” Adrien said, continuing to press on her belly. “I just have the urge to do it.”

“Why?”

Adrien shrugged. “I’m making you more comfortable to sleep on.”

“What the ever loving--it’s almost like you’re acting like a cat.”

Adrien stopped pushing on her immediately. He rubbed the back of his neck. “A-A cat? Me? Ahaha, no way!”

Marinette blinked. And blinked again. Her jaw dropped. “No. You can’t be him.”

Adrien closed his eyes and curled up around her, resting his cheek on her chest. He wrapped his arms around her and let out a little snore. 

“Adrien!” she said, raising up on her elbows. “Adrien Agreste, you look at me right now!”

“Can’t,” he said, unwilling or unable to raise his head. “Sleeping.”

“Chat Noir, you canned chicken,” Marinette snapped. “If you don’t get off me right this instant, I’ll never transform again.”

Adrien let out a little whine that Marinette thought was excessively obstinate and sat up. He looked at her mournfully, his grass-green eyes soft and sad. “Can’t we just go back to making out?”

“Absofrigginlutely not!” Marinette cried, pulling her legs out from under him and getting to her knees. She placed her hands on his shoulders both to steady herself and to shake him a little. “I know your identity, Adrien! Why aren’t you taking this more seriously?”

Adrien bit his lip. “Ladybug’s gonna kill me,” he said and to her horror, his beautiful, green eyes filled with tears. “She’s gonna take my miraculous and I’ll lose Plagg and I’ll never be able to be Ch--” He cut himself off with a strangled sob, burying his face in his hands.

Marinette sucked a breath in over her teeth. She didn’t mean to make him cry. She patted his shoulder. “I’m sure she won’t. She needs you. You’re her partner.”

“You don’t know her,” Adrien said, his breath hitching twice as he tried to compose himself. “She’s the Guardian of the miraculous now, but she’s stuck on the old Guardian’s rules. She’ll take my ring for sure.”

Marinette bristled. “Maybe the old Guardian’s rules are outdated.”

Adrien sighed and lowered his hands, his shoulders sagging. He couldn’t seem to meet her gaze. “Maybe I deserve to have my ring taken.”

“You don’t,” Marinette hissed. She couldn’t bear to see him so despondent. “You’re Ladybug’s partner. I know for a fact that she won’t take your ring.”

Adrien wiped his eyes one at a time with the heel of his hand. “And how would you know that?”

Marinette cupped his cheek and guided his eyes to her. “Think about it, Kitty.”

Adrien’s brows rose. He looked startled, as if she’d pulled the rug out from under him. In a way, she knew she had. “M-My Lady?”

This was it. The moment everything would change.

She could either confirm or deny her identity. If she denied his question, their relationship could continue on as before--except with him being revealed and her not. There’d be fallout from that, certainly, but she’d be less exposed.

If she confirmed it, then their relationship had a chance to grow stronger. But only a chance. She didn’t know what the future held. One of them could be akumatized and give the other away. He might do something stupid to protect Marinette, his civilian girlfriend, which he’d know would be under the suit. He could reject her, dashing their partnership to bits.

But he looked so incredibly sad. Despairing. Beaten. She could restore him to the way he was meant to be.

Marinette nodded.

Adrien looked floored. He spread his fingers and placed them on his chest. He gave her a slow, shaky smile. Then he let loose a sudden bark of laughter. “Now can we continue making out?”

She hit him in the face with her pillow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter of Chat Loaf, Marinette learns something that upsets her.

“No way!” Marinette cried, digging her pooper scooper into the litter box at the animal shelter she was volunteering at with Alya. “I didn’t know most cats are lactose intolerant!”

 _That checks out, though,_ Marinette thought, furrowing her brow. _Adrien is, now, and he didn’t used to be. Only since he’s become Chat._

“Yeah!” Alya said, almost too gleefully for the task that had been set before the two girls. “And, get this--unlike dogs, cats do not have a sweet tooth. Scientists think it’s due to a mutation in a key taste receptor.”

“Oh, noooo,” Marinette groaned, netting a puzzled look from Alya. “Er. Sorry. It’s just… I have a serious sweet tooth, you know?”

 _And so does Adrien. Is he going to lose that?_ Marinette bit her lower lip and sifted through the box, removing some clumps of pee-soaked litter. She dumped them into the trash can at her feet.

Despite her worry over her boyfriend’s latent cat tendencies and how the suit was affecting him, Marinette grinned at Alya. “Tell me more!”

“When a cat chases its prey, it keeps its head level,” Alya gushed, tapping her scoop against the litter box. “Dogs and humans bob their heads up and down.”

“Sounds about right.”

Alya blinked. “It does?”

“Err…” Marinette giggled nervously. “I’ve just seen a cat do that!”

_Or a Chat._

“Neat.” Alya tapped her scoop against her own trash can and moved on to the next box. “You’ll like this one: A cat’s hearing is better than a dog’s. And a cat can hear high-frequency sounds up to two octaves higher than a human.”

“Yup.” Marinette nodded. “I knew that one.”

 _Poor Adrien can’t stand rock concerts anymore for that reason,_ Marinette thought, sighing. _Or most crowds._ She pursed her lips. _And that one bird-akuma we fought was horrible for him. She screamed and blew out his eardrums._

_Poor Chat._

Marinette scraped her scoop along the bottom of her box and frowned at a particularly huge and stubborn clump. “How--” She grunted as she dislodged the solidified urine. “--do you know all these cat facts?”

Alya chuckled. “I was volunteering here, working at the reception desk. It was boring!” Alya reported cheerfully, disposing of some cat poop. “And they had this little pamphlet with all these neat animal facts.”

Alya’s grin widened. “And I like cats. And you like cats. And you like... Chat.”

Marinette whipped her head up to stare at Alya. Marientte dropped her scoop and her jaw. “W-What?” she exclaimed, immediately turning to the trash can to fish out the plastic tool. “Hahaha, I don’t like _Chat Noir,_ where did you get that impression?”

“You hung up pictures of him months ago,” Alya crowed, poking the air around her friend’s face with a gloved hand. “And don’t think I missed what your phone’s background is!”

“Alya!” Marinette whined, stuffing her scoop in the box. She had to think quickly. She had to do damage control. “You can’t tell Adrien that you’ve noticed that I… have a crush on Chat!”

Alya giggled. “Of course I won’t. How could a model compete with a superhero?” Alya’s smile took on a wicked edge, morphing into a smirk. “As I’m sure you’ve noticed, that catsuit totally shows off his… assets.”

“Alya!”

“What?” Alya responded, returning to scooping her cat droppings. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed those firm--”

“Oh, my gosh, Alya,” Marinette rasped, her face burning hot enough to fry an egg. “Why don’t you tell me more cat facts?”

“Okay, fiiiine,” Alya huffed. “This one is a killer. Did you know cats knead because they were improperly weaned from their mothers?”

A gasp ripped its way from Marinette’s throat. “W-What?” she whispered, her shaking hand hovering around her mouth. 

_Adrien’s mother is… gone! Is that why he likes to knead my belly? Was he…_ She gulped around the lump in her throat. _’Improperly weaned’? That’s terrible!_

Tears stung Marinette’s eyes unbidden. She wanted nothing more than to track down her boyfriend and throw her arms around him. _Oh, Adrien!_

Alya waved her hand in front of Marinette’s face, making her jump. “You okay, M? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Marinette really wished her hands weren’t covered in cat crap. She really wanted to dash her tears away, to hug Alya, to embrace _Adrien_. 

“Alya,” Marinette gasped, feeling as if she could no longer breathe properly. “How soon can we get out of the animal shelter?”

Alya blinked at her. “Whoa, you’re really torn up about this cat fact,” Alya said, raising her brows. “But your reaction isn’t about the cat fact, is it?”

Marinette lowered her head. She sniffled and shook it. 

Alya’s hand hovered awkwardly around Marinette's shoulder. Her grip on her scoop in her other hand tightened. “Listen, I can take the rest of these boxes, and you go, okay? You won’t get to play with the kittens today, but I doubt you care much about that right now, hey?”

“No,” Marinette whispered, already shucking her gloves. Unwiped tears spilled over her flushed cheeks. “Thanks, Alya. I owe you one.”

“No worries, M,” Alya said, flashing her a thumbs up. “Just go… find Adrien or something. He’ll make you feel better.”

Marinette let loose a soft, strangled sob and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go do that. Thanks.”

She booked it to the bathroom to wash her hands and face, neither of which made her feel better. Marinette signed out of her volunteer position at the reception desk, barely holding onto a shred of her dignity. 

As soon as she crossed the threshold of the front doors, Marinette opened her purse. “Tikki,” Marinette rasped. “I have to--”

“I know,” Tikki murmured, smiling up at her chosen sadly. “Go find him.”

Marinette felt her lower lip wobbling. “Thanks, Tikki.”

The superheroine ducked into an alleyway by the shelter and called on her transformation, not bothering to go through the usual motions. She whipped her phone open and dialed Chat’s baton. “Pick up, pick up, pick up…”

Chat’s smiling face, cocksure and golden, filled her viewscreen. “Well, hey, Bugaboo. Aren’t you supposed to be at the animal shelter with Alya?”

“Kitty,” Ladybug croaked, and Chat’s face fell. His teenaged features sharpened into an expression of intent concern. All his attention was on her now; she could feel it, and she was grateful. “Meet me at our usual patrol place for Thursdays?”

“Already en route, my Lady,” Chat reported, and Ladybug’s yoyo’s screen went dark.

Ladybug closed the yoyo and threw it out of the alleyway onto the roof with a _ziiiiip_ ping sound. The magical cord wrapped itself around the chimney and off she flew.

As Chat had promised, he was already pacing back and forth atop the Eiffel Tower’s second floor maintenance platform when she arrived. When she landed on the platform with a thump, he glanced up with an open, worried expression and approached, taking three strides with his long legs to reach her. 

Chat stopped in front of her and opened his arms. Ladybug gave him a long, drawn out sniff, her eyes already stinging with tears, and fell into his embrace. As she ground her nose into his collarbone, he wrapped himself securely around her.

"What's wrong, Bug?" Chat murmured, slowly running the backs of his clawed fingers up and down her cheek.

"Y-You and the c-cat facts and--you're a cat, Chat!"

"Um," Chat said, tilting his head at her. He turned his hand to cup her cheek. "Sort of? I have cat tendencies, but I'm still human."

Ladybug shook her head in his hold. "No, no, I mean…" She sucked down a steadying breath. "Alya was telling me cat facts at the shelter."

Chat nodded. "I'm with you. Go on?"

"One of them really upset me."

Chat offered her a soft, lopsided smile. He kissed her cheek. "I'd gathered that. Which one was it?"

Ladybug felt her lower lip quivering again. She stared into his brilliant, effervescent eyes and her heart broke. "Cats knead because they were improperly weaned from their mothers."

His eyes widened, and Ladybug flinched.

But his smile turned even softer. "Actually that's outdated information."

Ladybug blinked at him. "W-What?"

"While it's true that felines originally knead because kneading helped them nurse," Chat reported, and Ladybug relaxed into the soothing cadence of his voice, "cats knead to stretch their muscles after napping and mark what's theirs."

Ladybug stared up at him, gobsmacked. Then she pursed her lips. "Mark what's theirs?" 

"Ahahaha," Chat laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, about that… Cats have special scent glands on their paws. Kneading activates those glands, enabling the cat to, uh--" He gulped. "--mark his territory."

Ladybug squinted at his reddening face. She loosened her arms from around him and grasped his hand in both of hers, flipping it over to inspect his palm. "But you don't have those."

Chat looked away, nibbling on his lower lip. "Uh, nope." His feline ears fluttered as he glanced back at her. "Would you buy that I was stretching my muscles after napping?"

"You weren't napping."

"Uh, nope."

A laugh bubbled up from Ladybug's belly. "Chat! We were making out."

"Uh, yep."

Ladybug squinted again. "You said you didn't know why you did it. Did you lie to me?"

"No!" Chat gasped, brows raising in alarm. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I would never lie to you, Ladybug. Marinette. At the time I told you I didn’t know why I was kneading, I genuinely didn’t know. It just felt good, and I was content, so I kneaded your belly. But I looked it up later.”

 _That sounds about right,_ Ladybug thought pensively, nodding. She frowned up at him, her eyes stinging again. “So you weren’t improperly weaned from your mother?”

Chat sighed. “I mean… She left? It’s been four years, so you’d think I’d be over that, but… I haven’t really given her leaving a lot of thought? I just sort of...”

“... Stuffed it?” Ladybug whispered, burying her fingers in his hair and scratching his scalp in tiny circles. He started purring, closing his eyes in sheer bliss. “Oh, Kitty.”

“It’s okay,” he rasped, his cracking voice betraying him. “I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

Ladybug threw her arms around him. Chat caught her, his clawed hands coming up to rest on her shoulder blades. She peppered his face in kisses, covering his cheeks and nose and lips with them. 

He let her.

Finally, Ladybug pulled back and his eyes opened. “What do you need?”

“To not think about this,” Chat confessed, pouting. “I’ll bring it up with Dr. Pemberley in our next session, okay? I promise.”

“Okay,” Ladybug said, cupping his cheeks and stroking them with her thumbs. “If you’re sure.”

“Distract me,” Chat begged, giving her a sad, gentle smile. “Please.”

Ladybug thought for a moment. “Did you know most cats are lactose intolerant?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Chat pokes Marinette's belly with his claws while kneading her, she comes up with an idea: give him something else to knead!

“You are such a silly cat,” Ladybug murmured fondly, laying on the girders of the Eiffel Tower after her and Chat’s Thursday night patrol so he could properly knead her belly. “You know that?”

The night was frosty and the girders were cold; Ladybug could see her and Chat’s white puffs of condensation forming in the air from their breaths. But their suits regulated their temperatures, so aside from her face, she wasn’t chilled. Much. 

But it was worth it to have her boyfriend purr like that. Deep and rumbly, from the chest. His effervescent, green eyes were narrowed in pleasure as he knelt before her, pressing his clawed hands one at a time into her stomach.

Chat spoke sotto voce, his deep voice reaching to the base of her spine and tugging. “I know.” 

Ladybug shivered for reasons other than the weather, but the action made Chat open his eyes fully. “Are you cold?” he asked, smoothing his hands over her abdomen to come to rest on her hips. “We can go back to your room, maybe?”

Ladybug blinked. “I’m not too cold, actually, but the Tower is kind of uncomfortable to lie down on. My room sounds good.”

Chat released her, backing off enough to let her sit up. He stood and offered her a hand.

Normally she wouldn't take an offered hand. She could stand up just fine by herself, thanks. But this was Chat, and Chat was her boyfriend. And he liked to feel useful to her.

She took the hand.

Chat helped her to her feet with a knowing smile. Ladybug leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, lovely."

"No problem," Chat said and leapt off the tower, entering a swan dive that caught Ladybug's heart in her throat. Just before he hit the ground, he flipped over and extended his baton, pole-vaulting off into the night.

Ladybug rolled her eyes at his derring-do. "Show off." 

The trip back to her balcony via magical yo-yo only took a few minutes. Chat was waiting for her, lazily spread across one of her rooftop chairs. He was spinning his tail in his hand. "You're slow!"

Ladybug stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm sorry, were you in a hurry?"

His eyes took on a teasing glint. "To knead my girlfriend? Definitely."

Ladybug sputtered and pointed to the skylight. "Just get inside."

Chat laughed and rolled off the chair. He opened the skylight and gestured to the open space. "After you, my Lady."

"You're too kind." She slid through the skylight onto her bed and called off her transformation. Chat followed, waiting until she laid down to straddle her hips.

The look he was giving her could only be described as a smoulder. Marinette flushed. "Tikki," Marinette said to distract herself, "there are some cookies downstairs."

Tikki squeaked. "Of course, Marinette!" She flew off, leaving the two teens alone. 

Chat began purring, a deep vibration rising from his chest. He pressed his fingers into her belly, one hand after the other, beginning to knead.

Unfortunately, his claws, which weren't a problem when Marinette was wearing a ladybug-themed supersuit, poked her. "Oh, ow." 

Chat pulled back. "What happened?"

Marinette pointed to his hands. "You've got claws, Kitty." 

Chat spread his fingers and stared at them. "Oh."

Marinette blinked up at him. He looked so lost. She had an idea. "You know what you could knead?"

"What?"

"My papa's favorite bread recipe."

Chat chuckled. "Me? Baking bread?"

"Of course!" Marinette wiggled out from under him. "You'd be a great baker, Adrien."

Chat preened. "Well, when you put it like that… Let's do it. Should I call off my transformation?"

Marinette shook her head. "Probably not. It'd be easier to explain to my parents that Chat stopped by late at night than Adrien should they come down to the bakery. They might think you and I were up to something."

Chat waggled his brows. "I wouldn't be opposed to getting up to something."

Marinette laughed.

***

Chat, as it happens, was an excellent baker. He insisted on measuring everything as accurately as possible, which drove Marinette up the wall but made sense for baking if not for cooking. 

In no time, they were ready to knead two loaves of bread. Marinette had made Chat don some plastic gloves over his black ones, though the claws made short work of them. 

“Now comes the fun part: kneading,” Marinette said, taking a bit of flour between her hands and rubbing them together. She offered Chat the teaspoon, and he, too, scooped some flour out of the canister and rubbed it across his clawed hands. “We have to cover the table with flour, too.”

She smeared her hands all over the clean table, and Chat followed suit on his side. She re-floured her hands and spread the flour on the table a few times, until the table was lightly covered.

Then she grabbed her dough ball out of her bowl, slapped it down on the table, and started beating on it. 

Chat cackled.

“So we just punch the heck out of it?” Chat dissolved into giggles as Marinette slapped her dough. “That’s hilarious.”

“You can do whatever you want to it,” Marinette said, slamming her fists into the dough and turning it over. She took the ball, punched it flat, folded it up into a ball again and repeated that several times.

Chat gladly joined in, wailing on his own dough ball. “This is fun!”

“You can also take the ball into your hands and squeeze it and twist it.” Marinette demonstrated the other way to knead, but Chat accidentally tore his dough in half with his super strength. “That’s fine, just squish it together again.”

Chat grinned down at her--since when had he grown so tall? Marinette thought--and pummeled his bread. Then he started kneading more calmly, like he’d done with her belly earlier. Purrs rose up from his chest and filled the bakery.

Marinette beamed at him. She, too, began kneading in a similar way to him, and found the action soothing. Chat's eyes narrowed in pleasure, becoming green slits. 

After about ten minutes of kneading, Marinette told Chat, "Okay, we're pretty much finished. Now we have to let the dough rise for an hour, punch it down again, and then let it rise for another hour in a bread pan."

"Bread takes a long time to make." Chat shook his head, his normally-bouncy golden locks constrained by a hairnet. 

"It really does." Marinette set her dough ball into a greased bowl and covered it with a towel. Chat did the same. "You up for a midnight run around the city?"

"My Lady." Chat purred, fetching a bow. "I thought you'd never ask."

*** 

Their multiple races across the city had been exhilarating. As usual, they'd ended in a draw, with both Chat and Ladybug matching each other's speeds. 

In the middle of their racing, the two teen bakers returned to Marinette's place to shape the loaves and place them into bread pans. Marinette showed Chat how to spread the dough out into a square shape and roll it up into a tube, tucking the ends under.

Then they covered the bread with the towels again and wound down with a game of Go Fish.

As Marinette won the seventh game in a row, Chat groaned. "You know I'm no good at this game. I'm the poster boy for bad luck."

"I'm sorry, Chat." Marinette ruffled his hair, which she'd freed from the hairnet before their run. "Maybe it's just not in the cards."

Chat's eyes shone. "My Lady, are you finally joining the punsters among us?" 

Marinette was saved from having to explain the slip by the timer going off. She grinned. "Time to put the bread in the oven."

Chat yawned. "How long do we need to bake it for?"

"Just thirty minutes more." She patted his cheek. "Don't worry, Kitty, I'll get you home before dawn."

Chat laughed as Marinette stood and preheated the oven. "My father usually doesn't let me stay out after ten."

Marinette snickered. "At night or in the morning?"

"He's gotten better, you have to admit."

"I admit nothing." 

Chat shrugged. "I've given up trying to convince you. So what fun activity are we going to do while the bread bakes?"

Marinette huffed. "We are going to clean this kitchen."

Chat groaned again. "I knew it."

Cleaning the kitchen didn't take too long with Chat's help. While they waited for the bread to bake, they played Hearts--and Chat actually won the game.

Just as he was flexing and kissing his muscles, making Marinette laugh, the timer went off. "Oooooh," he said as Marinette took the bread out of the oven. "It's golden brown!"

"Yup." Marinette immediately took the loaves out of the pan to let them cool. "Once these have cooled down a bit, we can slice them. In the meantime, we'll clean the bread pans."

"I can't wait to try what we made!" Chat's enthusiasm was adorable, Marinette thought. "Let me help with the cleaning…"

They didn't have to wait too long for the bread to cool. Marinette cut two generous slices and slathered them with butter. Chat took his piece and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth. He moaned aloud, speaking with his mouth full of food. "It's soooo good."

Marinette laughed. She nibbled on her bread, choosing to savor her food rather than scarf it down like Chat always did. 

"Mmm." The bread was perfect: delicately yeasty, slightly acidic, and with a springy mouth feel. She soon abandoned all sense of propriety and shoved the whole piece in her mouth.

Chat giggled. "I can take the other loaf home, right?"

"Of course, Chat."

"Thank you, Marinette." Chat winked at her. "I had a really fun time tonight."

Marinette kissed a smear of butter off the corner of his mouth. "I'm glad, sweetheart," she said. "I'm glad."

"Though I have to say," Chat said, his eyes filled with that same teasing glint, "I prefer to knead you."

And Marinette laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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> Come join today!

**Author's Note:**

> Are you interested in reading or writing fanfiction? Are you looking for a community of like-minded and supportive people? Then join the [Miraculous Fanworks](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) Discord server! 
> 
> We are always welcoming new members, and would love to see you. We offer a variety of conversations, from fic discussions to writing support to fanfiction prompts. We even have monthly server-wide events and group writing projects! 
> 
> Come join today!


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